Posts about Capitol Heights

Retail

A liquor license reveals challenges with living on the border

by Veronica Davis   •   April 11, 2011 10:38 am

Residents who live near DC's border have Maryland residents as neighbors, but local laws often act as though nothing but desert lies beyond Western, Eastern, and Southern Avenues. In Ward 7's Deanwood community, residents are protesting a liquor license in their neighborhood, but any decision will ignore a critical element: Capitol Heights, Maryland.

Photo from "All Things Deanwood" on Facebook.

Uncle Lee's Seafood and Carry-Out, located on the northwest corner of Sheriff Road and Eastern Avenue NE, has applied for a "Retailer A" liquor license, which would allow for the sale of beer, wine, and spirits. In a ward that has more than 20 times the number of stores with an off-premise liquor license than groceries stores, it is safe to say another doesn't rank on the list of community needs.

Even bigger than the issue of an additional license is that there are already two other liquor stores at that intersection on the Prince George's County side of Eastern Avenue.

Retail

Ward 7's Walmart could be walkable and help small business

by David Alpert   •   March 31, 2011 10:34 am

Walmart's proposed store on East Capitol Street, adjacent to the Capitol Heights Metro station, has many residents excited for its food and other products, but others concerned about its design, which looks a lot like a school and doesn't engage the street.

Rendering of Ward 7 Walmart.

This site, alone among the four Walmart proposals, is public land. The independent DC Housing Authority owns the property. It has an interest in maximizing its profit to be able to create as much affordable housing as possible, but it also has a duty to help the neighborhood become better, to fulfill its mission of "enhancing the quality of life in the District of Columbia."

Why is it important to engage the street, anyway? This site is right around a Metro station, making it an ideal spot for a growing commercial district to serve the neighborhood's retail needs. A Walmart provides a lot of goods, but people also need some specialty goods and a wide range of services.

If the Walmart creates a forbidding pedestrian environment, it will make adjacent spaces less appealing for others to open shops. On the other hand, if its design encourages walking to, from, and around the Walmart, it will make it easy for someone shopping at the Walmart to also run across the street to patronize a beauty shop, specialty retail, or a cafe that complements the Walmart and contributes to a strong commercial district.

A professional urban designer, DC resident, and Walmart stock owner who nevertheless did not want to be named submitted a plan for how Walmart can best encourage small, noncompeting businesses and create a more pleasing design as well. Between the big box store and East Capitol street, it could create a frontage of "incubator space," small storefronts that it can rent to appropriate, DC resident-owned small businesses.

Meanwhile, the eastern half of the site, closest to the Metro, can serve as parking, but should be designed to allow future residential with parking below. This will not only bring more customers to the Walmart but take advantage of the Capitol Heights Metro, just across the street from there, and contribute to a mixed-use district.

Click to enlarge.

With parking under, above and behind the store, and shops oriented to the side, the block would become much more a part of the neighborhood compared to the fairly bland and inactive façade in Walmart's plan.

Click to enlarge.

Would Walmart do this? Since DCHA owns the land, they can attach a variety of conditions to the deal. So can the Zoning Commission, since this property will go through a Planned Unit Development (PUD) process.

Walmart should also be happy to do this. The plan wouldn't take away from Walmart's own store, and would likely even enhance its profitability by bringing more customers to this area to shop at the other businesses.

Walmart Visitor Center. Photo from Walmart.

Plus, it fits in with many of the values Walmart now espouses. The Walmart Visitor Center, located in Sam Walton's original variety store on the Town Square in Bentonville, Arkansas, includes displays on the history of Walmart's growth and Sam Walton's values.

One display describes the Walton International Scholarship Program (WISP) "which was created to promote democracy and free enterprise in Latin America by enabling qualified low-income students to earn a college degree in the United States, learn first-hand about individual initiative and free enterprise, and experience the benefits of living in an open and democratic society. The ultimate goal is for students to return to their countries with the skills and the desire to have a positive impact on the private sector of their nations' economies."

Walmart can start encouraging "individual initiative and free enterprise" right here in the US by designing their Ward 7 store with a small business incubator. It'll be good for DC's economy, good for residents, good for the neighborhood's urban design, and good for Walmart.

Development

Prince George's great Heights

by Dave Murphy   •   December 31, 2008 8:47 am

At the four corners of the original District of Columbia are four very distinct developments. In the south, Alexandria hugs the Potomac River as a classic example of a traditional city. On the west corner is Falls Church, a typical but up-and-coming Virginia suburb. In the north, Silver Spring sits atop the District's crown showcasing the triumphant transition from a suburb to an urban place. And then there is the east, where lie "the Heights".

Photo by Ben Schumin.

The City of District Heights, the Town of Capitol Heights, the Town of Fairmount Heights, and the City of Seat Pleasant, four of Prince George's County's small municipalities, hug the eastern corner of the District. Each houses only a few thousand thousand residents, mostly in single family homes organized on traditional street grids bounded by arterial highways. The area is rich with Metro stations, served directly by Capitol Heights and Addison Road/Seat Pleasant on the Blue Line, and somewhat indirectly by nearby Cheverly on the Orange Line and Suitland on the Green Line.

Much of their origin parallels other Maryland suburbs like Chevy Chase, Takoma Park, and Mount Rainier. Though promised trolley service like the other towns, the early Heights towns never received a trolley. But with the exception of Fairmount Heights, they originally housed wealthy Washingtonians who wanted a quieter home with scenic views of the city. Capitol Heights even went so far as to promise "no colored people." Fairmount Heights, on the other hand, was incorporated specifically to provide low-cost single-family houses to black families in a town that they could govern themselves.

Economically, the area has went downhill with suburbanization. A rebuilt Central Avenue became a sewer for high speed traffic, effectively cutting traffic off from the business core. Later, the Martin Luther King Highway did the same thing to the north. Currently, much of the commercial development in the area lies outside the municipal boundaries, mostly as low-grade sprawl-style strip malls along the highways.

The area has gained an unfortunate reputation, and undeservedly so. The towns continue to be strongly family oriented with relatively low crime compared to other nearby areas. Unfortunately, some perceive the demographics of this 90% black area in a negative light. The region has received disproportionally low investment, segregated from and spurned by the rest of the region. But despite the neglect this area faced, it might just be one of the more well kept secrets in the region.

These municipalities, like many others in Prince George's County, have very well-connected traditional street layouts. There is quick access to DC, both vehicular and by transit. There's immense capacity and opportunnity to improve this area. Unfortunately, Prince George's County is also notorious for its poor use of real estate around Metro stations. In 2007, Capitol Heights was the 6th least-used station on the entire Metro system. With such a well connected road network and community oriented atmosphere, this might be one of the best candidates to improve walkability.

M-NCPPC has recognized the need for transit-oriented development in PG County, and has a vision for Capitol Heights Metro station. The University of Maryland's school of Urban Planning studied (PDF) this area in 2003. These visions could transform "the Heights" into a hallmark example for transit-oriented development in Prince George's County, and these communities would finally earn recognition as the cozy, friendly and convenient neighborhoods that they are.